Box strapping tool



May 6, 1952 1.. D. RICH BOX STRAPPING TOOL 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1947 awe/whom LELAND D. P/cH y 1952 L. D. RICH 2,595,886

BOX STRAPPING TOOL Filed April 23, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gvwe/wboa LELAND 0 P/CH May 6, 1952 D. RICH BOX STRAPPING TOOL.

3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 25, 1947 3mm LELAND 0. P/cH Patented May 6, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOX STRAPPING TOOL Leland D. Rich, Kensington, Conn assignor to The Stanley Works, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application April 23, 1947, Serial No. 743,408

6 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to box strapping tools, and more particularly to means for operating and controlling the seal feeding arrangement for such tools whereby jamming of the tool under normal operating conditions is prevented.

The present invention is particularly applicable to box strapping tools of the type having a frame adapted to be seated on a box or other article about which a strap is to be tensioned and sealed; strap tensioning and holding mechanism mounted on the frame;- sealing means carried by the frame and including a housing movable into and out of operative position with respect to the overlapped strap ends to be sealed, sealing jaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about the overlapped strap ends, means on thehousing for positioning a seal between the jaws, and a lever for moving the housing into and out of operative position and for operating the jaws to effect a sealing operation, in sequence; a magazine mounted on the frame and arranged to support a plurality of seal members in stacked relationship for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the latter are in raised or inoperative position; and means for automatically feeding the bottom seal member from the magazine into position between the jaws when the housing is returned to original inoperative position.

Tools of this sort have been defective in that it has been possible to jam the seals due to'the fact that, while there is one seal between the jaws, a second seal may be partially fed from the magazine to a position where it overlaps the line of movement of the housing or head so that, when the housing is moved, the second seal jams and often is bent. When this occurs, great difliculty is experienced in removing the misplaced seal member. The introduction of a second seal into such jamming position will result if the seal feeding mechanism is manually operated by the operator or other person while a seal is already positioned within the jaws. This frequently occurs by accident as well as deliberately when the operator is mistaken as to the presence of a seal within the jaws. A double feed may also occur when the tool is operated, through an incomplete cycle, i. e., when the tool is returned to original position without completing the sealing operation, e

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved and simplified control and operating arrangement whereby jamming of th tool as described above cannot occur. 7

More particularly, the aim of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for preventing manual operation of the seal feeding means except in conjunction with full operation ofthe tool, thereby assuring that any seal already in the sealing mechanism will be used or ejected before a second seal is fed by the feeding means, or conversely, preventing the feeding of a second seal except by going through a sealing operation,

A further aim of the invention is to provide, in a tool of this sort, a simple and effective means entirely automatic in operation for actuating the feeding mechanism which is so constructed and arranged as to retain the advantages of a spring returned feed mechanism without at the same time making it possible to manually feed or partially feed a seal member from the magazine into a position in which it can jam the tool when there is another seal member already in position between the jaws. In conjunction with this aim, it is an object to provide such an actuating mechanism which will delay the automatic feeding of the next required seal until the end of a sealing operation. 1

Another aim of the invention is to accomplish the foregoing objects by means of a mechanism which is of simple and inexpensive construction, which can be readily assembled and disassembled, which will not interfere with the normal operation of the tool, and yet which is sufficiently rugged and eflicient to operate over long periods of time without malfunctioning.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in Figure 1 is a partial side view of the tool with the sealing means shown in raised or inoperative position;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the tool in position at the end of bending the seal member about the strap ends;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Figs. 1 and 2 but illustrating the parts in a position which they occupy at an intermediate stage of the sealing operation;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the movable head of the tool.

For convenience and simplicity of presentation, the present invention is shown embodied in a box strapping tool of the type illustrated and described in the patent to Doolittle, No. 2,218,023, issued October 15, 1940. A detailed description has been omitted herein of such portions of the tool as are generally common in said patented structure and that of the present invention, particularly where such description is not necessary to an understanding of the present invention. Reference may be had to this patent for such common details as may be desired.

Referring to the present drawings, the box strapping tool is shown comprising a frame It adapted to be seated on the box or other article about which the strap is to be secured provided with a foot I I and a dog I2 between which one end of a strap is adapted to be clamped. The tool is provided with a stretching means (not shown in the drawings) which, as illustrated in the referred to patent, may have a manually movable foot and cooperating dog for gripping a portion of the other end of the strap to apply a tension to the strap and hold said other end in overlapping relationship with the first strap end.

Pivoted to the frame as at I3 is a housing or head I4 adapted to be moved between the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. Slidably mounted in a bore in the head I4 is a cylindrical rack bar I5 connected at its lower end through linkages 9 to a pair of sealing jaws I6 pivotally mounted in the bottom of the head or housing I4. After the tool is moved to the position shown in Fig. 2, the sealing jaws I6 are adapted to be actuated by the rack I5 to deform the seal into tight, interlocked position around the overlapped strap portions.

.The bottom of the housing I4 is provided with a pair of seal supports 2| partially surrounding the jaws I6 and provided with opposed bottom flanges 22 and with end flanges 23 for supporting and locating a seal A between the jaws preliminary to a sealing operation.

Journaled on the housing as at I? is an operatinglever or handle 25 which is in operative engagement with the rack bar I5 by means of a mutilated pinion 8, the construction and arrangement being such that, when the handle is thrown forwardly on its operative stroke (to the right as viewed in the drawings) the housing will first be moved from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 3 and then, upon further forward movement of the handle, the handle is pivoted relative to the head I4 causing the pinion 8 to drive the rack bar I5 downwardly causing the linkages 9 to pivot the sealing jaws I6 in order to effect the sealing operation, as shown in Fig. 2.

The seals A which are utilized for interlocking the overlapped strap portions are illustrated as comprising trough-shaped, metallic pieces which are held in a magazine which is in the form of a rectangular, open-ended, box-like structure. At the bottom of the magazine are opposed flanges 3I adapted to support the lowermost seal with the remaining seals being stacked thereabove. The flanges 3| are generally in alignment with the seal supporting flanges 22 of the housing I4 when the tool is in the raised or inoperative position shown in Fig. 1.

Slidably mounted on the flanges 3I is a feeding member 32 which is adapted to be reciprocated by a lever 33 ivoted to the magazine at 34 and urged inwardly, i. e. to the left as viewed in the drawings, by a spring 35.

In accordance with the present invention and wherein my construction departs from that of the above-referred to Doolittle Patent No. 2,218,023, the lever 33 and hence the feeding member 32 are operated and controlled by the handle 25 through a link 38 which is pivotally connected to the handle 25 at the pivot 36 and which is provided with an elongated slot 31 through which is slidably received a pin 39 mounted on the lever 33. The link 38 is generally arcuate in shape and extends beneath a shoulder 40 on the arm 33.

The connecting means provided between the operating handle 25 and the lever 33, in accordance with my invention, serves the double function of positively actuating the feeding member 32 in a forward direction (to the right as viewed in the drawings) every time the tool is operated through a sealing cycle (as is evident from Fig. 2) whereby seals A are presented one by one to the spring returned feeding member as required, and also for preventing independent operation of the feeding member 32 in said forward direction to such an extent as to cause a second seal to be engaged by the feeding member and moved toward the sealing means before the first seal has been utilized and the passageway is cleared.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1 wherein the handle 25 extends to the left and with the housing or head I4 in elevated position, the lever 33 and feeding means are entirely free to move to the left under the influence of spring 35 to feed a seal to the jaws I6 and yet it is impossible to swing the feeding member 32 and lever 33 outwardly to a greater extent than that shown approximately in the dot and dash lines of this figure, this because of the engagement of the pin 39 with the outer end of the slot 31. If further movement is attempted, the line of force is so close to the journal I1 that sufficient force normally cannot be exerted on the feeding member 32 to raise the handle 25. Accordingly, it is impossible, when the tool is in the position shown in Fig. 1, to feed a second seal to the sealing means of the housing or head I4.

As the handle 25 is moved forwardly, i. e. to the right as viewed in the figures, the lever 33 is forced outwardly to the ultimate position shown in Fig. 2 which permits the bottom seal of the magazine 33 to rest on the opposed flanges 3| in which position it may be fed to the housing or head I4 by return movement of the feeding member 32. This occurs, however, only after the rack I5 has been moved to its lowest position, as shown in Fig. 2, in which it has deformed the seal A carried by flanges 23. Return movement of the feeding member 32 when the handle 25 is in this position is prevented by the engagement of the pin 39 with the inner end of the slot 31, as shown in Fig. 2. As the operating handle 25 is returned to original position, there would be certain intermediate points, such as is shown in Fig. 3, in which the feeding member 32 and lever 33 could be swung outwardly were it not for the shoulder 40 which would come into jamming engagement with the link 38 thereby preventing such movement. Accordingly, the operating handle 25 must be returned to the original position shown in Fig. 1 in order to free the feeding member 32 and lever 33 for movement to the full extent to the left, as viewed in the drawings, by action of the spring 35 to cause a seal to be fed to the jaws I6, and must be moved to the opposite extreme shown in Fig. 2 in order to drop a second seal into feeding position, i. e. in alignment with feed member 32.

During the movement of the operating handle 25 from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 1, the lever 33 and feeding memher 32 may move partially from the position shown in Fig. 2'under the'biasing influence of spring 35. This function is similar to that in the structure of said Doolittle Patent No. 2,218,023 in that a seal which is only partially fed from the magazine under such circumstances will only be advanced toward head l4 until its advancing end engages the forward arcuate face of head i4 clearly shown in the drawings. Such seal member will not interfere with upward movement of said head. In the patented structure, however, the feeding member can be independently moved in non-feeding direction under such circumstances, whereas in the present invention, no appreciable independent movement of the feeding means in non-feeding direction is possible due to the provision of shoulder 40 and its function.

It thus will be seen that, in accordance with the present invention, there has been provided a seal feeding arrangement which is foolproof in operation so that it is entirely impossible to feed a seal tothe housing or head except by going through a sealing operation. In this way, there cannot be more than one seal in feeding relationship and, therefore, no jamming of the tool can take place. At the same time, the feeding mechanism is efficient in operation and will cause the desired feeding of the seals as needed during sealing operations. The device is simple in construction and in no way impairs the efficiency or operating simplicity of the box strapping tool.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could bemade without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the'language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said tofall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a box strapping tool of the type having a frame, a housing on the frame movable into and out of operative position with .respect to overlapped strap portions to be sealed, sealingjaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about said strap portions when the housing is in operative position, a pivotally mounted operating handle for moving said housing into operating position and actuating said sealing jaws in sequence, and a magazine mounted on the frame and arranged to support seal members for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the housing is in inoperative positive, of a lever arm pivotally mounted on the magazine, feeding means carried b said arm for engaging a seal member in the magazine when the lever arm is swung outwardly to a first position and for moving said seal member into the sealing jaws when the lever arm is swung inwardly to a second position, spring means for moving said lever arm into said second position, and a connection between the operating handle and the lever arm comprising a slotted link pivotally mounted on one of said members and having an elongated slot, a pin on the other member slidably received in said slot, and a shoulder on the other member adjacent said pin for limiting pivoting 1 the slot when the operating handle is pivoted to actuate the sealing jaws and is permitted to move to said second position when the operating handle is returned from sealing jaw actuating position, said slot and shoulder being arfranged to cause the link to engage against the shoulder upon limited relative movements of the operating handle and lever arm insufficient to permit the lever arm to be moved into said first position at an other stage of the operation.

2. In a box strapping tool of the type having a frame, a housing on the frame movable into and out of operative position with respect to overlapped strap portions to be sealed, sealing jaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about said strap portions when the housing is in operative position, a pivotally mounted operating handle for moving said housing into operatin position and actuating said sealing jaws in sequence, and a magazine mounted ,on the frame and arranged to support seal members for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the housing is in inoperative position, of a lever arm pivotally mounted on the magazine, feeding means carried by said arm for engaging a seal member in the magazine when the lever arm is swung outwardly to a first position and for moving said seal member into the sealing jaws when the lever arm is swung inwardl to a second position, spring means for moving said .lever arm into said second position, and a connection between the operating handle and the lever arm comprising an arcuate slotted link pivotally mounted at one end on the operating handle and having an arcuate slot adjacent the other end thereof, a pin on the lever arm slidably received in said slot, and an inclined shoulder on the lever arm adjacent said pin for engaging the link to limit pivoting movement of the slotted link, said connection being such ,that the lever arm is moved outwardly to said first position by engagement of the pin with the inner end of the slot when the operating handle is pivoted to actuate the sealing jaws and the lever arm is permitted to return to said second position when the operating handle is returned from sealing jaw actuating position, said slot and shoulder being arranged to cause the link to engage against the shoulder upon limited rela tive movements of the operating handle and lever arm insuiiicient to permit the lever arm to be moved into said first position at any other stage of operation of the tool.

3. In a box strapping tool of the type having a frame, a housing on the frame movable into and out of operative position with respect to the portions of a strap to be sealed, sealing jaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about said portions of the strap when the housing is in operative position, an operating arm pivotally mounted on the housing and pivotal from a first position to a second position to move the housing into operative position and to actuate said sealing jaws in sequence, a magazine mounted on the frame and arranged to support seal members for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the housing is in inoperative position, means including a feeding arm mounted for movement in opposite directions between a first position to engage a seal member in the a magazine and a second position to insert the seal member into the sealing jaws, and spring means for moving said feeding arm into its said second position, the combination comprising connecting means between said arms including a connecting link pivotally mounted on one of said arms and means forming a lost motion connection between the link and the other of said arms for moving the feeding arm to its said first position only at the completion of movement of the operating arm to its said second position, and means on one of the arms engageable with the connecting 4. In a box strapping tool of the type having a frame, a housing on the frame movable into and out of operative position with respect to the portions of a strap to be sealed, sealing jaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about said portions of the strap when the housing is in operative position, an operating handle mounted on the housing and pivotal from a first position to a second position to move the housing into operative position and to actuate said sealing jaws in sequence, a magazine mounted on the frame and arranged to support seal members for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the housing is in inoperative position, means including a feeding arm pivotally mounted on the magazine for pivotal movement in opposite directions between a first position for engaging a seal member in the magazine and a second position to insert the seal member into the sealing jaws, and spring means for moving said feeding arm into its said second position, the combination comprising connecting means between said handle and arm including a connecting link pivotally mounted at one end on the handle, means forming a lost motion connection between the link and the feeding arm for moving the feeding arm to its said first position only at the completion of movement of the operating handle to its said second position, and means on the feeding arm engageable with the connecting means to prevent movement of the feeding arm to its said first position except when the operating handle is in its said second position.

5. In a box strapping tool of the type having a frame, a housing on the frame movable into and out of operative position with respect to the portions of a strap to be sealed, sealing jaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about said portions of the strap when the housing is in operative position, an operating arm pivotally mounted on the housing and pivotal from a first position to a second position to move the housing into operative position and to actuate said sealing jaws in sequence, a magazine mounted on the frame and arranged to support seal members for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the housing is in inoperative position, means including a feeding arm mounted for movement in opposite directions between a first position for engaging a seal member in the magazine and a second position to insert the seal member into the sealing jaws, and spring means for moving said feeding arm into its said second position, the combination comprising a connecting link pivotally mounted on one of said arms, means including a pin and slot forming a connection between the link and the other of said arms to cause the feeding arm to be moved to its said first position only at the completion of movement of the operating arm to its said second position, and a stop on one of the arms engageable with the link to prevent movement of the feeding arm to its said first position except when the operating arm is in its said second position.

6. In a box strapping tool of the type having a frame, a housing on the frame movable into and out of operative position with respect to the portions of a strap to be sealed, sealing jaws carried by the housing for deforming a seal about said portions of the strap when the housing is in operative position, an operating handle mounted on the housing and pivotal from a first position to a second position to move the housing into operative position and to actuate said sealing jaws in sequence, a magazine mounted on the frame and arranged to support seal members for successive alignment with the sealing jaws when the housing is in inoperative position, means including a feeding arm pivotally mounted on the magazine for pivotal movement in opposite directions between a first position for engaging a seal memher in the magazine and a second position to insert the seal member into the sealing jaws, and spring means for moving said feeding arm into its said second position, the combination comprising a connecting link pivotally mounted on the operating handle, means including a pin and slot forming a lost motion connection between the link and the feeding arm to cause the feeding arm to be moved to its said first position only at the completion of movement of the operating handle to its said second position, and a stop on the feeding arm for engaging against the link to prevent movement of the feeding arm to its said first position except when the operating handle is in its said second position.

LELAND D. RICH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,102,981 Spencer Dec. 21, 1937 2,194,108 Wright Mar. 19, 1940 2,218,023 Doolittle Oct. 15, 1940 2,223,164 Childress Nov. 26, 1940 2,267,612 Leslie, 2d Dec. 23, 1941 2,298,658 Spencer Oct. 13, 1942 2,336,264 Leslie, 2d Dec. 7, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 594,609 Germany Mar. 19, 1934 597,178 Germany May 18, 1934 

